Courts Like Medieval Parliaments in the Crisis of Political Representation

In the current crisis of representation, when we vote less, are less inclined to enrol in political parties and politics resounds with the sound of anti-political parties; in times when public problems are so complex that representatives are increasingly more and more incapable of engaging, let alone solve, them most notable issues of our societies; in communities where uncertainty is a powerful individualizing force, judicial power may become the depositary of the hopes for justice that seems to constitute the kernel of political representation today. In constitutionalist settings in which individual petitions submitted to the judiciary are the symptom of a common grievance, special judicial techniques may be devised to enable courts to address general issues laying behind individual appeals. In this respect, two experiences seem particularly relevant: the acciòn de tutela implemented by the Constitutional Court in Colombia and the pilot judgment procedure of the ECtHR.